Southern calamari
Excellent
Spring and autumn are the seasons: the weed beds on the rising tide, slow sinking jigs.
Venus Bay Fishing Report
Updated Fri, 25 Sept 2026 from live weather and tide data
The five surf beaches and the Anderson Inlet back door: salmon and gummies on the beaches, whiting in the inlet, and the pipis of the sand.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
Low 3:21 pm model
Air / High
13 °C / 21 °C
Wind
SSW 2 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Venus Bay is in its cool-water rhythm: slower presentations and the warmest hours of the day. Today brings cloud cover, wind SSW around 2 km/h, rising pressure near 1025 hPa and a high of 22 °C. Tides: high 9:30 am and 9:38 pm, low 2:35 am and 3:21 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 13 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM: the windows to build the day around.
Australian salmon
Good
The main season. Beach gutters, rock platforms and bay edges on the rising tide; metals, surf poppers and bait all work.
Snapper
Fair
Fish are thinner inshore. Work the deeper structure and the channel edges with baits on the bottom, and pick the tide change.
Flathead
Fair
Fish the deeper channels and the last of the run-out; slower hops with a heavier jighead, and a bait on the bottom as back-up.
Tie on: Blade or vibe, slow hops · Lightly weighted plastic · Whole pilchard or squid on the bottom · Suspending hardbody. Prime windows: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Cooler at 14 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
Victoria requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from A$10.00. Victoria fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing snapper here? Check the size and bag limits with VFA before you keep anything; the Snapper page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Venus Bay today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:02), sunset (18:15), the moon and today's score, with the modelled tide changes in the panel below. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM; minor 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Full Moon, 99% lit.
Water and weather
A modelled tide curve for these coordinates and the forecast for the day.
Tides (modelled)
Modelled sea level curve from Open-Meteo Marine for these coordinates, datum mean sea level. Fish the moving water either side of each change.
A model, not the official prediction: times can drift by tens of minutes inside bays and estuaries. Check the Bureau of Meteorology tide predictions for the exact times before you rely on them.
Fri
LOW2:35 am-0.71 m
HIGH9:30 am0.47 m
LOW3:21 pm-0.43 m
HIGH9:38 pm0.38 m
Sat
LOW3:49 am-0.72 m
HIGH10:26 am0.46 m
LOW4:30 pm-0.68 m
HIGH10:50 pm0.40 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp13 °C
High / Low21 °C / 13 °C
WindSSW 2 km/h, gusts 5 km/h
Pressure1025.4 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain85% cloud, 86%
Sunrise / Sunset06:02 / 18:15
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~13 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Venus Bay
The best day on Venus Bay this week looks like Sunday 27 Sept, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today. Every day is scored by the same engine as the report above: pressure trend first, then wind, sky and season. Pick a species and the plan for that day changes with it.
Best day this week: Sunday, 27 Sept — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 25 Sept — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 06:02 to 18:15
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 16 km/h
- Rain chance
- 86%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Venus Bay: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Snapper
Best: October to January in the southern bays
The southern headline fish. Runs into Port Phillip, Western Port, the gulfs and the WA sounds in spring to spawn; holds on reef and rubble the rest of the year. Fish are thinner inshore. Work the deeper structure and the channel edges with baits on the bottom, and pick the tide change.
King George whiting
Best: December to May in SA; spring and summer in Port Phillip
The table fish of the south. Feeds over sand patches between weed and reef in 2 to 10 metres, mostly by day, mostly on the moving tide. Deeper sand patches and the middle of the day; slower bites, bigger fish.
Southern calamari
Spring and autumn peaks in the southern bays
Southern calamari over weed and sand in 2 to 10 metres of the bays and gulfs; a jig fishery at dawn, dusk and under the jetty lights. Spring and autumn are the seasons: the weed beds on the rising tide, slow sinking jigs.
Australian salmon
Winter and spring on the southern beaches
Not a salmon at all: a hard-fighting schooling fish of the surf and the bays, from WA around to NSW. Great on light gear, poor on the plate. The main season. Beach gutters, rock platforms and bay edges on the rising tide; metals, surf poppers and bait all work.
Flathead
Best: November to April
Dusky flathead in the eastern estuaries, sand flathead in the southern bays. An ambush predator lying on sand and mud edges waiting for whatever the tide brings. Fish the deeper channels and the last of the run-out; slower hops with a heavier jighead, and a bait on the bottom as back-up.
When to come: the Venus Bay calendar
Activity by species and month for the southern year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
Species activity by month
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Snapper
King George whiting
Southern calamari
Australian salmon
Flathead
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 13 °C (estimated, not a reading).
Angler reports
Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. Nothing here is copied from a shop or a charter. The water log below tracks each day automatically.
No angler reports yetBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Venus Bay today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataThu, Sep 24
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Southern calamari led the card at excellent. High of 23 °C, wind to 11 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Southern calamari led the card at excellent. High of 18 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Southern calamari led the card at excellent. High of 15 °C, wind to 19 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence (RFL), from A$10.00, the same for residents and visitors. Details and where to buy →
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and marine park zones are set by VFA and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the Victoria licence page before you keep anything.
Access
The Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence applies at Venus Bay unless exempt, to pipis as well; our Victoria page has the fees.
About this water
Venus Bay is a coastal town in Victoria, Australia, covered from the Victoria reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Venus Bay: the full guide
Venus Bay and the beaches
Venus Bay is the holiday settlement on the dunes between Anderson Inlet and the Bass Strait surf east of Inverloch, with five numbered surf beaches on the ocean side, the inlet’s flats and channels behind the settlement, the Tarwin River mouth to the east and Cape Liptrap beyond. It is a surf-beach settlement with an inlet behind it, and the report on this page is scored for the settlement’s coordinates. Inverloch has its own page.
Species and seasons
Australian salmon run the surf beaches in the cooler months at dawn and dusk and are the beaches’ fish; gummy shark fish the beaches at night from spring to autumn; King George whiting and flathead fish the inlet flats from spring to autumn; black bream fish the Tarwin mouth all year; mullet and silver trevally fill the inlet; and the pipis of the surf beaches are collected under the VFA’s limits and are the bait and the reason many people come. Estuary perch push up the Tarwin.
Where to fish it
Beaches one to five, numbered from the settlement north, are the salmon and gummy sand, fished on the rising tide into dusk and driven to from the settlement’s access tracks, and the inlet flats behind the settlement are the whiting and flathead water for wading; the Tarwin mouth at the eastern end is the bream spot. The ramp is on the inlet, and the pipis are dug on the surf beaches at low water.
Reading this report here
The beaches face south-west and a south-westerly builds the surf and closes them, while a northerly flattens them and the inlet is the fallback; the wind row tells you which. The tide panel is a modelled curve for the coordinates of Venus Bay, labelled as a model, and the beaches fish on the rising tide into dusk. Pressure and sky build the score at Venus Bay; the planner shows the day.
Licence, access and rules
The Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence applies at Venus Bay unless exempt, to pipis as well; our Victoria page has the fees. The beaches and the inlet foreshore are public, with a ramp on the inlet; the VFA limits, including the pipi rules, are in the sources.
Common questions
What can I catch at Venus Bay?
Salmon on the surf beaches in the cooler months, gummy shark at night, whiting and flathead on the inlet flats, bream at the Tarwin mouth, and pipis under the VFA limits.
Do I need a licence at Venus Bay?
Yes, unless exempt: the Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence, which covers pipis too.
Is fishing good at Venus Bay right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Tide curve (modelled)
- Open-Meteo Marine, sea level height including tides
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on How our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.